SHARES in chocolate retailer Thorntons dived yesterday after it revealed that talks over a potential buyout of the company had ended.

SHARES in chocolate retailer Thorntons dived yesterday after it revealed that talks over a potential buyout of the company had ended.

Thorntons' shares fell 10% following the London Stock Exchange announcement, in which it said none of the proposals it received represented fair value for shareholders.

In October the company announced that members of its management had been talking to potential backers over a move to end its 15-year market listing. Later that month it said potential new suitors had emerged.

Chairman John Thornton, the independent director who oversaw the process, said he could not comment on where the offers had come from or the potential price. It is thought Thorntons could have attracted bids as high as £120m.

Mr Thornton added, "It never really reached the stage of final offers, it was still at the indicative offer stage."

Thorntons, which is based in Somercotes, Derbyshire, has 388 stores but also sells through franchises in greeting cards shops and makes own-brand products for Marks & Spencer and Boots.

Last year it complained that the hottest summer since 1976 had put shoppers off chocolate.

But a strong Christmas performance, which brought a 4.6% increase in like-for-like sales in the seven weeks to December 27, signalled an "encouraging" turnaround.

Mr Thornton said the company had been approached in October by a venture capital firm keen to work with the management, a move which led to a number of other parties coming forward.

"During this time we had a number of shareholders who came to us and expressed clearly their views," he said. "In the end the people we were talking to weren't able to match expectations."

He added, "The management are highly committed to the business. They didn't go out to seek this - it came to them. Now we just want to get on with being a plc."